Air-leak vent for torpedoes



AJuly 3, 192,3. Y 1,460,370

' W. DIETER AIR LEAK VENVT FOR TOBPEDOES Filed Aug. 4. 1922 PatentedJuly 3, 1923.

WILLIAM DIETER, F NE'WARK, INEJVy JERSEY.

AIR-LEAK VENT FOR TQRPEDOES.

Application filed August 4, 1922. Serial No. 579,667.`

^To all 'whom if may concern.' A

sov

Be it known that I, lViLLniM IMMER aV citizen of the United; States ot.'LLi'nerica, residing in Newark, in the county ,of Essex and State ofNew 'plerseyg have invented certain new and, useful improvements inAir-Leak Vents 'for rorpedocs, of which the following` is a specication.

In auton'iobile torpedoes it is common to provide two receptacles, `onefor alcohol or other fuel, and-the other 'for water, with means forfeeding these liquids'to the heating apparatus'v or superheater after Ythe torpedo has been launched` It customary tok construct these liquidcompartments or receptacles closely adjacent the head ofthe air flask,'for compactness, but

this involves the difficulty that if any lealrage of compressed air'from the flask occurs,

it. entersl .the communica-ting liquid 're ceptacleand must bedischarged therefrom to avoid its generating an air pressure thereinvwhich would expel the liquid lto the superheater. fFor this purpose it'is common to provide a vent for conducting away any slow leakageentering` either orboth receptacles. when the torpedo is stored prior tolaunching. Means are providedwhereby upon launching, or in preparationtherefor,

such leak vent is shut ofi', so-that the receptacles areA hermeticallysealed and pressurefmay, he introduced into them vfor yev- `pollingrthe'liq'uids -at the desired rate inor other Vvessel carrying thetorpedoes before launching. Such vessels are usually of light draft, andsubject toV serious rolling and4 pitching. p i p in a foreand aitposition, the rolling of the vessel equally rolls the torpedo, and this'rol/ling mayotten be so y,Qfreat as to submerge 'the open end of thevent tube, so

' that any leakage resultsI in expelling liquid the line 3 3` in Fig. 2.

of the cylinderwduring 'rolling.

It the ltorpedoes are stored iromthe compartment. It the torpedoes arestored transversely, the rolling has less eect, but the pitching of thevessel is .ac`l co'nipanied by an equal roll of the torpedoes.` Thepresent invention aims ,to provide means whereby the vent outlet tubewillvalways remain in tree communication with the air space in the topof the liquid com.- partment, notwithstanding that therolling is such aswould submerge such outlet vent.

To this end the .present invention pr0,

vides Lfor enclosing the outlet of' the vent.'V

l tube within a'chamber having through perforations or the like, arestricted communi cation with the interior of the compartment,. adaptedin case ot rolling,r and sube` mergence, to retard the entry vof liquidinto such chamberso-asto leave vthe vent outlet in communication withthe air space' therein, lthe latter being in communicationv with the airspace in the compartment,"

Thus, when rollingy occurs, a small-amount of liquid enters the chamber,and lupon the reverse roll this is dischargedso as to free the chamberpreparatory to vthe next submergence;

The preferred embodiment o'futhe inven-` tion is illustrated intheaccompanying drawings, wherein section of fthe mid-portion `of a torpedoshowing the liquid compartments' and the Figure 1f is a yverticallongitudinalv midventing meansand Vrelated apparatus, the portions ofwhich exterior to the compartments'are rearranged'in diagrammaticmanner.'-

. Fig. `2 a. klongitudinal vertical midsecl-l f tion of the chamberenclosing the .vent out- Fig. 3 is a transverse section thereof onrvFig. 4' isa transverse section yoir-the` line 4-41 iny Fig. 1, yon ascale intermediate that.; Y

of FigsQl and 2, showing thr ee positions Fig. is a transverse sectioncorrespondv mg toFig.y 3, andshowmg arnodified con-` struction. f j v fj 1 To venable the mechanism shown in Fig.

1 to be understood, `I will briefly describe it. making' referencetosaid patents .and application for a more detailed description.,

Referring iirst to Figure 1, A indicates the Yshell or hull'of theAtorpedo and'fyBfthe reservoir or flask of compressed air. From thisflask an Voutletpipe a leads to a pressure reducing valve C by which'theair pressure in the flask is reduced to a lower and unlform pressure.Fromthe low pressure side 'of this valveleads a pipe b which extends totheheater or superheater D, and from the latter a pipe c leads to theengine (not shown) which is commonly a turbine, and by which the screwpropellers are driven in the well-known manner. At Vsome suitable lpointin the pipe or passage wis introduced a'starting valve E vwhich may beofA any known const`ruction, and lwhereby "the air is admitted to theheater and engine "at the instant of launching the torpedo.

-Within a strong container F is provided the usual enclosurefor thewaterand liquid fuel. This is commonly formed'by eXtend-i ing the airflaskv B rearwardly in the form of'a` cylindrical wall CZ having aflangeto- `which is securely attached a disk or head fe.

A -chamber G formed within this'container y F is sub-divided into twovcompartmentsby apartition'H of comparatively thin rmetal1 such vas metalsheet or plate, which is pref-` erably'constructed in the form of anannuI lar vesselhavinga central opening for the kfree passage through itofthe pipeya 'and which is supported within the'container F *in* anysuitable manner, as by brackets ff. The partition or vessel Hthusdivid'es the chamber G into two compartments, an outerl compartmentI, and an innery compartment J. In the construction shown the outercompartment I- is designed to hold water "and vtheinner compartment `Jto hold alco- `holor othercombustible fluid; but this ar rangement maybe" reversed by suitably al Itering the'respective pipe connectionswhich will be'described.

the reducedk pressure pipe b is v.formed a slightcontraction lor chokingg, and `be-v tween this and' the, reducing valve v C' a branch Itleadsto avalveshellz' whereifthe ductbranches and leads totwo valves Kand L." From the valve K a pipe 7c leads to the fuel tank or compartmentJ, From the yvalve Ll a pipe Zk leads )into thewater Space VorcompartmentI'. From the bottom Vof the f fuel compartment J there leadsa pipe in whichlis introduced a check-valve and which pipe j leadsthence to a yfuel nozzle m;

i .through which vvfuel is sprayedor'otherwise introduced into vtheheater.

f tomofethe water compartment I leadsa pipe vring water. The valves K,L,

p in which is introduced' a check :valve 13.#

whence the pipe 0 extends to the heater D and terminates lin a' spraynozzle L Pfhe-ve the functions described in said Leavitt Patent i\lo.'l,0`22,fl86.v

For "preventing From 'the bot# for introduci any Slight leakage at the.jointe 0r-'e'. ntethe Water Compartment I' generating e preeeure inthe-latter, means ere Prevdjed for Venting effenv Sueh air.' pressurefrom this compartment.' The venting means here shown is the same as thatset forth in my said prior application. A vent tube 5 passing through"the rear' wall or fiange 6 leads from'its open end 7 forming the ventoutlet, to a vent valve Q which is normally open and permits outflowthrough v a tube'8 into suitable connection with the conduit h, whencethe, air may escape freely through 6,11), c, into the afterbody. Thevalve Q is openl at all Vtimes vafter air pressure is stored inthe airflask, and until the torpedo is being prepared for firing. For

the purposes of the 'present inventionthe outer cylindrical casingl 31an inner cylin drical casing 32, and end headsz` 'these three' partsbeing united by theirjadjoining end, flanges being soldered or otherwisejoined togethernuler Space 35; The Chamber 34 is crossed' at its middlebyv a transverse tube 3G. In the preferrediconstructionzthe structurehas This construction affordsy l a middle chamber 3ft surrounded byanan- 95 at its bottomfve (more o'rfless), yperforarl` tiene, 37, and.between the-.Chambers 34 and 35 conmIunication through a bottom pere,166i foration 38, and a 'middle' perforation 39v formed vin the top ofthe cross-tube 36: and the annular speee 3,5 communieateslon op7 positesides through perforations 40, 14:0,

with the exterior.

In the normaltrimpositlon air ymay'flow through` any ofthesejperforations into the inner 4eheri1b-er`3%, and' thence. Out' threilehthe: outlet, 7. l In case of rolling, so as 'to Submerge 'melf-e erleee.t111e easing '304' water may .enter the 'euterfehamber 35 threu'gh 'ithe bottoinperforations 37, and the-lowerv` ma here perfetti@ e: but the'airone let'is maintained. through the upper unsubmerged perfera'ten 40,and thencev through the Cube 361andfpe`rforation 3 9r tothe innerchamber.

The Water entering the enter.

space 35V canfow only very Slowly into the inner chamber' 34:Vthr'leughthe Per-ferita tion38, so that it would require'a long time` Afor lthis inner chamber to. vso .fa-r fllwith y is too short tojpermitany 'considerable inflow of water. because ,they perforation 38 waterasto cutoff thefflow 4of air from 40 Y e kto 39, and Vin rolling.y theduration or phasev is so smallfas to permitwater-to'enter onlyveryjslowly. OnA the reverse roll `the cas-,

ing 3() isV for ythe greater part of the'timev out of water, and duringthisV periodfthere is rapid, eutiew through` the vepe'rfere.-

cylindrical shell 31.

tions 37,' and a sloweroutflowthrough the oneperfor-ation 38, vbut theflow through the `latter is sufficiently fast todischarge all t ofthewater from the chamber 34 before the rollhas-gone fanenough toresubmerge the casing on the opposite side; duringl the vmiddle portionof entered it during the submergence at the end of the roll. The purposeof the perforation 38 is to afford a simple means -for thus purging theinner cli-amber of water; of

' course,` an inlet check valve could be used --for this purpose, butthe perforation accomplishes all needful purpose with greatersimplicity.

Fig. .4 shows in full Alines the positions incase of an abnormal rollwhich, without the rpresent invention. .would submerge the vent outlet 7it showsin dotted lines the mid or trim position, and also the position'of extreme roll tothe opposite side.

It will be understood that the structure provided by the presentinvention may b e greatly modified so long asits essential/fea!` tures;`are retained. What lis essential is that the outlet 7 shall communicatewith an enclosed chamber of sufcient capacity to be' partly iilled withwater and yet main# tain an air space with which the outlet 7' is incommunication, and it is desirable that suchk perforations or openingsshall be vprovided as shall during partial submergence of the structuremaintain free communica-v brief period of submergence' of the ventstructure the water level in 35 lis lower than in the compartment I, andthat in the inner chamber 34 is lower than that in the space 35.

Fig, 5 illustrates one of numerous modifications in which the structureshown in Fig. 3 is inodiiiedby multiplying` the an-` nular space To thisend an outerjacket vll-1 is provided` thus forming an annular space 42around theannularspace 35. Sinih ilar perforations are provided7 as inthe,

-In this specification, whereverthe term perforation or perforations isused. the singular is to include the plural, and vice versa;` itbeingimm-aterial howV many Consequently, each roll the chamber 34 isemptied of any waterL that n l'aso that the vent sure therefrom having ap artment.

perforations are employed, provided' their areas are 'correctly plishthe stated results. t

The -proportions are' such that in rolling the vvent structure might bewholly submerged during entreme' rollingymovements without admittingsullicient water to the innercliamber Br-.dto-submerge `the outlet .7.

T he rollinpjl-would havetoamount to' prac-y tically D before sufficientwaterr could eiiterto lill the chamberfll' and permit ywater to flolwoutthrough 7 and a'-miichy less degrec of rolling exceeds that whichis'possible in practice.

lf in the torpedo boat' the torpedoes-arel stored atliwartships, then`the rolling of the boat 'simply vthrows Vthe water endwis'e of thetorpedo. and as 'it cannot enter at either end of'the chamber 34,and canonly leak in through the perforations' 37 and 38, it has nettimetofenter fast materiall amount of water into the.

outlet -7 cannot become submerged. 5

Tll7hat is claimed is ment andY means for-venting gaseous pressuretherefrom having a vent outlet at the normally upper part of ysuchcompartment, the combination therewith of means for eX- cludingliquidfromsaid outlet in case of enough to carry any chamberproportioned to accom such rollinga of'tlietorpedo yas would submergesuch outlet, comprising ay chamber communicating with said outlet havingre'- stricted communication with the compartment. l l 'i i i 2. In atorpedo having a ment and means for venting gaseous presvent outlet atthe normally upper part of v'such compartment,

liquid compart-` los the o ombination therewith of means for eX- cludinpliquid from Asaid outlet in case of'I such rolling' of the torpedo aswouldsubymerge such(k outlet, comprising a chamber communicating? withsaid outletand a cir; cuitous passage between said chamber and thecompartment affording restricted communicationbetween the chamber andcom- 3. In a torpedo'having a liquid-,compartment and means for venting',gaseous presv sure therefrom having a vent outletat the normally upperpart of cludingliquid from said outlet in case of such compartment,` ,ythe combination' therewith of means for ex-v 20..

such rolling of the torpedo as would sub* l merge such outlet.comprising achamber communicating with lsaidA outlet and a circuitouspassage surrounding said chambery and affordingrestricted communicationbetween the chamber and compartment.

el. In .a torpedo having a liquid compartment and means for venting;`gaseous pressure 'therefrom' having a vent outlet at the Y normally`upper part of suoliV compartment,

merge Vsuch 'outlet7 comprising achamloer in 'free communication 0withthe outlet,v and4 'having restricted communication on .oppositesideswith the compartment.

s 5.y In -a torpedohavin'g aliquidcoinpart ment. and. means yfor ventingvgaseous pressure therefroml having a vent outlet' at the normally`upper part of such compartment,v the combination therewithI of meansforex- `cluding*'liquid `irom "said Aoutlet in casey of lsuchr rollinglof the' torpedo as. would subfmergesuch outlet` comprisingnacylindrical shell forming' a chamber in jfree communi? cation with theoutlet, and having restricted 'cation *with the/outlet, and an enclosingy communication on oppositel sides'with the Y' compartment.

6. In a torpedo-having 'a liquid 'coinp'art-v ment and means vforventing gaseous vpres'- `suretherefrom havingfa vent ,f outlet at the ll said space throu'ghfsa'id` t'uloeltoA the chamber.-

"normally upper part of, suchk compartment,

the combination therewith of means for -ex- 25,1

cluding liquid from saidfoutlet in case of such rollingvof the torpedoas would' :sub-kv with perforations affordingA restricted com#municationjbetweenfsaid space andchamber, and between Partment;

said `space fthe comf 7.' In a torpedo having` a` liquid covrnpart;`

sure therefrom fhavingifk` a ,'ent'outlet-at the Vlag,

yment and means l:fori .venting gaseous pres-v A ,normallyupper part ofsuch compa'rtrn'ent,` i

recombination therewith of means forex cludingA liquid .from said outletincase of such'rolling ofthe. torpedo as would sub-v merge such outlet,comprisingy 'a cylindrical shell `forming a chamber inkree'communishellform-ing an intervening annular space',`

with a transverse tube,` and'perforations'affordingv restricted'communication between said` space and "the compartment, and from AInwitness Whereofyhave hereunto signedv my name.

